Leeds United

Lewis Deighton
Fan writer

After five weeks on cloud nine, the Premier League table has officially refreshed for next season and Leeds United are alphabetically 11th - stop the count!

The Kaiser Chiefs gig at Temple Newsam, celebrating 20 years of their debut album "Employment", felt like one last promotion party before attention turned to the challenge ahead.

Adopted club anthem "I Predict a Riot" featured twice on the night - as Leeds' number nine turned guitarist Patrick Bamford took stage for a one-off performance with the band. The Championship trophy was present too, along with a crop of Bielsa-era players.

All three clubs promoted from the Championship have gone straight back down in each of the past two seasons, and so we are led to believe that any prospect of Leeds surviving is doubtful.

I think if you unpack it, none of the clubs promoted in that time have had any big-club pull or mentality to do some smart, serious business in the transfer window. Leeds and Sunderland will both have that.

Raphinha, for what he has gone on to achieve, is undoubtedly up there with the most ground-breaking transfers out of the Premier League since Gareth Bale in 2013 - having only spent two seasons at Elland Road.

The sheer scale of Leeds United, its rich history and renowned fanbase, means they are naturally a more favoured TV selection for the numbers generated. All this, accompanied with the foundations in place and money at play, makes Leeds the more appetising stage for a certain type of player.

Another factor next season is that nine clubs have qualified for European football, which will perhaps give Leeds an edge in games against weakened or fatigued sides.

Ben Ashton
BBC Sport England

Image source, Getty Images

The 2024-25 Championship season might be over but there are many ways to analyse and reflect on the campaign that has gone before us.

Not every club can go up but if there are signs a team is moving in the right direction, it can still be considered good progress - or quite the opposite if things are on the slide.

Here is a look at how each of the 18 sides who were in the Championship for the past two seasons got on points wise compared to the 2023-24 campaign.

It perhaps comes as no surprise that Sunderland, who won promotion to the Premier League via the play-offs, recorded the most significant improvement after finishing 16th in 2023-24 and picked up 20 more points.

Despite a tumultuous season off the field, Blackburn were the second most improved side in the division, gaining 13 points on the previous campaign as they missed out on the play-offs by just two points.

Leeds racked up 90 points in 2023-24 but somehow still managed a 10-point improvement as they hit the 100 mark on their way to winning the title in their best-ever season in the second tier.

Millwall's seven-point improvement was enough to help them finish five places higher in eighth, but they fell short of the top six by two points.

Meanwhile, Bristol City were only six points better off but managed to climb five places and claim a play-off spot, recording their best Championship finishing position since 2007-08.

Coventry also only improved by five points but were able to jump from ninth to fifth, perhaps showing just how fine the margins can be in the Championship when it comes to securing a play-off berth.

At the bottom...

Image source, Getty Images

You might want to look away now, Hull City fans.

The Tigers went backwards more than any other side compared to the previous season under Liam Rosenior, dropping from seventh place and three points outside the play-offs to only escaping relegation on goal difference on the final day.

Cardiff went from mid-table in 2023-24 to rock bottom and will drop down to League One for the first time in 22 years. It is pretty clear to see why as the Bluebirds picked up 18 fewer points compared to the previous season.

Norwich tumbled to 13th place after finishing in the play-offs a year before - an underperformance which ultimately cost Johannes Hoff Thorup his job as head coach.

Preston were 10 points off the play-off places in 2023-24 but picked up 13 fewer points under Paul Heckingbottom in what was their worst season since they were relegated from the Championship in 2010-11.

The Lilywhites' downturn was largely due to a major dip in form in the latter stages of the campaign, picking up only one win from their final 15 games (D7 L7) to avoid the drop by just one point.

West Bromwich Albion endured a disappointing season - for a club which always harbours ambitions of plying its trade in the top flight - with an 11-point drop off.

Albion's final points tally of 64 was their worst in the Championship since 1999-2000.

Plymouth may have only been five points worse off than they were in 2023-24 but having survived on the final day that season, there were to be no such heroics this time around and their two-year stint in the second tier is over.

And the rest...

Image source, Getty Images

*All data based only on teams who were in the Championship in 2023-24 and 2024-25

Image source, Getty Images

We asked for your questions for BBC Sport pundit Nedum Onuoha on your Premier League club.

Richard asked what the hardest parts of adapting to the Premier League are after securing promotion.

In the Championship, the team with the best players will more often than not end up near the top of the league because there is such a disparity.

In the Premier League, every team has international players and they all have experience of being there. They all keep themselves in top shape, know ways to win, know ways to manage games and get over the line, and they are all coached really well.

The Premier League is now a hotbed for the world's best coaches so the separation between managers is not as big as you find in the Championship.

All established Premier League clubs have expectations and big budgets. The nature of the players, the facilities, the understanding, the belief - it all plays into it.

With Leeds coming back up, I like that they have experienced it not long ago, and had a season when they stayed up. They have had a feel of being an underdog on a week-to-week basis and not being expected to win most matches.

Outside the Premier League, we sometimes focus on the teams at the top of the league, see how good they are and somewhat disregard the rest.

In the top flight they are the top 20 teams in the country. You do not realise how good every side is until it is your club promoted and playing against them every week.

On paper, the teams in the lower half have better players than the side just promoted with 100 points.

Everyone in the Premier League is good and Leeds need to find a way to get points as quickly as possible.

They also need to be studying opponents now. I guarantee teams will be studying them, and the games they are targeting to get points from will be tougher than they think.

Nedum Onuoha was speaking to BBC Sport's Nat Hayward

Adam Pope
BBC Radio Leeds reporter

As I was walking into the office a smiling Leeds United er shouted "Any transfer news Popey">